A Peony For Your Thoughts

And it's a tree peony too.

This is a Japanese Tree Peony, sorry I don't know which variety it is. I bought it a long time ago, I mean a very long time ago. I purchased two of them and planted them in the front garden. One of them, a lovely yellow double, was planted under the front window, where it just grew and grew. As it was obviously in the wrong place, I decided to move it. Big mistake. Tree peonies don't like moving. It died.

So this one I left alone. It only grows to about four or five feet, dependent on the severity of the winter. It was quite happy until the gas men came and dug up the pavement near the front garden. The gas pipe they were replacing was quite close to the peony's roots. Tree peonies don't like root disturbance. Don't worry , it didn't die, but it did sulk quite a bit. It seems a lot better now than it was last year, so hopefully it is now recovering from the experience.

The flowers are dinner plate size, huge things, but very heavy, and they bow their heads to the ground. So despite having about a dozen blooms at the moment, after the recent rain, the flowers are all facing downwards, and the display is hidden. No point in trying to lift them up; heavy rain forecast for tomorrow. Oh well.

You may have seen in previous posts, the bird feeder I use, which is covered in a squirrel guard. The guard keeps out the squirrels and the large birds, but I wasn't expecting this:

Didn't know snails liked bird seed. On the subject of bird seed, I read a letter recently where someone was asking if birds are particular about the bird food they are given. The letter writer said that if he changed the make of bird food, the birds weren't happy and would ignore the food until their regular make was offered. I too have experienced this. I usually get my bird food from CJ Wildbird Foods, but if on occasion I buy from another supplier, you know special offers and the like, the birds won't eat it. Even food from other very reputable suppliers is ignored. It's as if the birds just don't like change. The BTO say birds can tell which food is best, and they will eat the best food and ignore poorer quality food. I suppose it's a bit like, once you've sampled M&S food, do you really want to go back to Tesco?